


Tale As Old As Time

by lannisterslioness



Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and the Beast Elements, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-04-29 11:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5125409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannisterslioness/pseuds/lannisterslioness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Owen Grady's grandfather, Sheldon Grady, passes, Owen finds himself suddenly as the sole recipient of all his grandfathers belongings - including the massive fortune that little to no one in his family knew about. The only catch? For the entire remainder of his grandfathers estate to become his, Owen Grady has to marry someone within the year. Owen never really believed in marriage, especially with his parents being divorced since he was so young, but a certain redheaded lawyer named Claire Dearing just might change all of that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: So I got a request from an anon on Tumblr to write a Beauty & The Beast AU for these two dorks. It's a modern day AU by the way (sadly no grand castles or ball gowns here, or singing kitchen ware, none of that). This first part is short, mostly because I was interrupted from my writing routine to celebrate Halloween yesterday! Hopefully I'll be able to focus on the next chapter more, I don't know when that'll be because I might write some short little prompts in-between to keep my brain from exploding. Either way, I'll shut up now and let you guys read the story. xoxo

     Owen was never one for big cities, he tried to avoid them most of the time, but as of late it seemed like he was being dragged from one big city to another. San Diego was tolerable for him, there were places where he felt like he finally had space to breathe, but from the moment he landed in New York City, he felt almost suffocated. People were everywhere, there was no place in even just the airport where he landed that gave him a moment of peace and quiet. Owen knew that if he hadn’t been required to actually show up today, he would have been perfectly content staying in San Diego.

 

     Where the taxi had dropped him off, Owen had to double check and see if it was even the right place. He remembered little about his late grandfather Sheldon Grady, he’d seen him only once when he was a kid, and though he’d send birthday and Christmas cards every year, Sheldon Grady was a reclusive man. He’d heard stories of that his grandfather was a wealthy man, but that never really mattered to him, and he never expected being the only person named in his will to take everything after he died. Or, most of everything from what he understood, according to his grandfather’s lawyer that he spoke to over the phone, she said he wrote some stipulations into the will.

 

     The townhouse seemed modest enough from the outside, it blended in with the rows of others that were lined up side by side. But the moment Owen entered the house; he could tell that there was something significantly different about it. Though it felt a bit like a museum inside the house with white walls and displayed pictures on the wall, everything on display was related to dinosaurs. Renderings of everything from a tyrannosaurs to a velociraptor hung on the wall, teeth were sealed up in clear boxes on display, giant formations of amber were dotted along the rooms, it wasn’t anything like Owen remembered from when he was a kid.

 

     “You must be Mr. Grady,” A redheaded woman said, startling Owen by coming out of one of the side rooms, and not making a sound. “I’m Claire Dearing, I was your grandfathers lawyer…I’m so sorry for your loss.”

 

     “Uh, thanks.” Owen shrugged. “I only met the guy one time, I didn’t really know him.”

 

     “Well, it’s still terrible to lose a family member.” Claire mused.

 

   “It’s Owen by the way.” Owen stated.

 

     “I’m sorry, what?” Claire asked.

 

     “You can call me Owen, Mr. Grady was my dad, I hate being called that.” Owen sighed.

 

     “Oh, alright…Owen.” His name seemed to come out though her clenched teeth, almost as if it physically pained her to call someone by their first name. “Would you like a tour of the place first or would you prefer to get the business out of the way?”

 

     “Let’s get the boring stuff done and over with.” Owen suggested.

 

     Claire nodded and led Owen into the room where she’d been waiting for him. It looked like an office of sorts; it was painted a nice warm beige instead of the stark white walls of the rest of the house. The office felt more lived in, books lining the shelves on the walls and even more odds and ends of dinosaurs scattered about. The chair behind the desk that Claire seemed to be struggling to sit in looked especially worn, clearly the most sat in chair in the entire house from the looks of it. Owen took his place on the opposite side of the desk in front of Claire, trying to read the stacks of papers that were in front of him.

 

     “Your grandfather made his will incredibly specific. Everything is taken care of for the first year, all the utilities and other bills that keep the house running are set up to be automatically paid. The kitchen staff also has an accountant set up, all their paychecks will be paid through that for the year as well.” Claire stated.

 

     “Whoa, kitchen staff?” Owen asked in confusion.

 

     “Yes, there’s a chef and two assistants that help out in the kitchen, they’re paid throughout the year. Your grandfather loved their cooking so much that he decided to keep them for a year after his death for once you inherited the house. There will be a monthly paycheck of sorts that comes out of the estate for you every first of the month, five thousand dollars every month for other things-“

 

     “Five thousand dollars a month!” Owen exclaimed. “God, just how rich was this guy?”

 

     “Well Mr. Gr – Owen.” Claire corrected herself. “Your grandfather was a very well set man, he made most of his money though investments, he donated most of his wealth to paleontology as you can probably tell, and whatever charity he saw fit. Either way, those are monthly for now, the rest of the 2.5 billion dollar estate will become available to you –“

 

     “I’m sorry,” Owen interrupted again. “Did you just say 2.5 billion dollars? Billion with a b?”

 

     “…Yes.” Claire answered. “That’s it.”

 

    “Holy shit.” Owen was in complete shock now.

 

     “There are some stipulations however,” Claire sighed. “Your grandfathers estate will only become available to you if you marry within the year.”

 

     “What?” Owen asked.

 

     “Apparently your grandfather believed in marriage strongly. Strong enough to write it into his will.” Claire said.

 

     “What happens if I don’t get married in the year?” Owen asked.

 

     “The house is paid off so you could continue to live here, there are the bills to contend with however. There is the kitchen staff as well should you choose to keep them, and the allowance would cease. The remaining estate would be funneled out into the charities he chose before his death and be donated to them.” Claire explained.

 

     “Sounds like he thought of everything.” Owen said.

 

     “Your grandfather was a very organized man.” Claire shrugged. “All of this is a copy of his will if you want to go over anything, but aside from all of that, the house is now officially yours.” Claire reached into her purse and handed the keys over to Owen.

 

     “That’s it?” Owen asked.

 

     “That’s it.” Claire confirmed as she started to gather her things and hand the copy of Sheldon Grady’s will over to Owen. “Next week though you are going to need to stop by my office, the first check of the allowance gets sent there to me, I should have the papers drawn up by then as well for you to fill them out and for the checks to go through your bank and be deposited in like a paycheck.”

 

     “Yeah, I’ll come to the office…where is it?” Owen asked.

 

     Claire reached into her bag again, this time pulling out a business card, and writing an address down on it before handing it over to Owen. “I’ll call you next week and let you know when everything’s there so you can just show up and sign some papers.” Claire stated.

 

     “Alright, uh, thanks.” Owen nodded, stuffing the card in his back pocket and hoping to remember it was there later.

 

     “Go ahead and get settled in Mr. Grady, it’s a pretty good size house, your grandfather had a lot of interesting things hidden all around in here.” Claire said.

 

     “Owen.” Owen corrected her again.

 

     He could have sworn for just a moment as Claire walked past him and on the way out the front door that he caught her blushing.


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So here we are again, still not sure how long this story is going to be, but I hope everyone’s liking it so far.

     Owen remembered the last time he was in a lawyer’s office; it was sometime after his fathers death and all it really was about was for his mother to sign a few papers. She seemed almost relived after they left that day, and once he got older and understood what had happened to his father, he understood why his mother had been so relived. This office, however, was nothing like the last lawyers office he had been in. It was in one of the hundreds of skyscraper buildings that were dotted all over New York City, the law firm Claire worked for – Hoskins & Wu – took up two floors and looked more like something out of a movie than an actual law firm.

 

     He’d only been in New York for a week now, and all he’d done was stay inside his grandfather’s house as much as he could. Outside was too busy, too many people going to too many different places at a million miles an hour. Inside the law firm was no different, there were people in suits running all around him, cell phones glued to their ears, and paying little to no attention as to what was happening around them. The only person who seemed to be aware of new people coming in and going out of the building was the secretary sat behind the desk, being one of the first things you saw when you walked in.

 

     “I’m here to see Claire Dearing.” Owen told her.

 

     “Sure,” She smiled. “If you go straight down this hallway to the right, she’s the last office on the left hand side.”

 

     “Thanks.” Owen nodded and tried to weave his way through the sea of people that was moving around him.

 

     He followed the secretary’s directions and wound up in front of what he assumed was Claire’s secretary’s desk that just so happened to be vacant. Owen could see into Claire’s office though, the glass wall hiding little, where he could see a dark haired woman handing tissues over to Claire. She was dabbing her eyes and trying to hide how red her nose was; Owen briefly considered going and coming back at a later time, but seeing Claire so upset, he couldn’t leave without knowing what was wrong. He knocked on the door and stood waiting in the doorway until the dark haired woman acknowledged him first.

 

     “Ms. Dearing is a bit busy at the moment, if you could come back at a later-“

 

     “Zara, it’s fine.” Claire cut her off, still dabbing her eyes.

 

     Zara looked at her hesitantly for a moment before turning back to face Owen, she seemed a bit torn between listening to Claire and letting Owen stay, or continuing her sentence and ushering him out. Claire nodded at her at that seemed make the decision for her, Zara made her way towards the door and stopped as soon as she grabbed the door knob.

 

     “If you need me, I’ll be right outside.” She told Claire before pulling the door shut, taking a seat behind her desk and glancing into the room before busying herself with whatever paper was on her desk.

 

     “Are you alright?” Owen asked, he wanted to console her; she seemed so fragile as compared to the version of her he had seen just last week in his grandfather’s house. But something told him to keep his distance for now; she was trying to pull herself together.

 

     “I’m fine. It’s nothing.” Claire tried to reassure him.

 

     “Are you sure?” He pressed on.

 

     “It’s okay.” Claire’s voice broke slightly though she tried to keep it steady. “It’s just…a lot of stress, work, family, other things…it gets to you sometimes.” She shrugged. “But, you didn’t come here for all of that, I have the papers for you to sign right here.” Claire smoothly changed the subject and pulled out a pile of papers she had sitting in one of her drawers while she gestured for Owen to take a seat.

 

     “Seems like a lot of paperwork for one little piece of paper.” Owen tried to joke to lighten Claire’s mood a bit, it earned him a small smirk, but it quickly faded.

 

     “There’s always piles of red tape when it comes to money.” Claire sighed and handed him a pen form somewhere off her desk.

 

     Owen signed everywhere Claire had pointed out to him in the heaps of papers. Once it was all said and done it was the first time he’d been handed a check for five thousand dollars that had his name on it. The whole situation still seemed so strange to Owen though he was living in the mans house and going through his things, trying to learn some bits and pieces of information about a man he only met once before he left everything to him.

 

     “So, do we have anymore meetings in the future?” Owen asked as he made his way to the door while Claire started organizing all the papers to be filed.

 

     “After this, not really, no.” Claire sighed. “Everything’s signed and done.”

 

     “Oh, that’s uh…unfortunate.” Owen said. “I know it might be a bit weird but…maybe I could take you out to lunch sometime? Not like a date, I mean, it doesn’t have to be a date, more like someone possibly showing me around the city? If that’s alright with you?” Owen knew he probably sounded like an idiot; he hadn’t been this nervous asking a girl out since high school.

 

     Claire smiled for the first he’d been in the office and actually let a little laugh escape. “I’m off next Thursday, we can go out to lunch then.”

 

     “Great!” Owen exclaimed, perhaps a bit more excited than he wanted to sound, which caused him to become a little embarrassed. “Do you want me to pick you up or meet there or-“

 

     “How about I meet you at your house?” Claire asked with a smile still on her face, Owen couldn’t help but think it was nice to see her smile after all the crying she must have been through before he arrived at the office.

 

     “That sounds good.” Owen smiled. “I’ll see you Thursday.”

 

     “Sounds good to me.” Claire replied.

 

 

* * *

 

 

     By the time Owen got home from his meeting with Claire, he was beaming; he hadn’t felt this happy about the prospect of a date since he was a teenager. He knew it might have been a bit strange to ask Claire out when he had, but there was something about her that he couldn’t stop thinking about. Most of all, if he could, he wanted to be able to find out what had made her so upset earlier.

 

     “You look happy.” One of the members of the kitchen staff, Lowery, mumbled through a mouthful of food.

 

     “You know, for someone who’s supposed to be cooking, you sure do a lot more eating than anything else.” Owen laughed.

 

     “The day I get him to stop eating whatever he cooks is the day the world will surely end.” Another member of the kitchen, Barry, said.

 

     Vivian just rolled her eyes at Lowery; she was the only one who didn’t bother trying to fend Lowery off from eating while he was cooking.

 

   “You still didn’t explain why you’re so happy,” Lowery cut in once he swallowed his food. “You’ve been sulking around this house for a week complaining about how much you hate the city and one trip into the outside world, you come back smiling.” Lowery pointed out. “Oh…wait…you got to see the hot lawyer today, didn’t you?”

 

     “I had to go sign a few papers, that’s it.” Owen shrugged; trying to fend of his smile now to keep them from asking anymore questions and gratefully took the plate of food that Vivian was holding out for him.

 

     “He’s not going to stop until you tell him why you walked in here with a smile plastered on your face.” Vivian sighed.

 

     “Let the man have his peace, Lowery.” Barry swatted at Lowery with a spoon when Lowery tried to go for something else to eat.

 

     “Alright, alright. I’m going out to lunch with Claire next Thursday.” Owen finally admitted.

 

     “I knew it!” Lowery exclaimed. “I knew you were gonna ask her out, aside from complaining about everything she’s the only person you’ve talked about in a good way.”

 

     “Hey, it’s just lunch. Maybe she’ll take pity on me and show me around the city a bit, but that’s it.” Owen replied right away.

 

     “Where are you guys going?” Vivian asked curiously, though it earned her a glare from Barry. “If you don’t mind me asking.” She added on.

 

     “I don’t know, I haven’t really been around the city.” Owen shrugged.

 

     “That’s because you’re crammed up in here, you should take her to Stella’s; beautiful little Italian place not far from here, it’s great.” Lowery suggested.

 

     “What? No, are you kidding me? He’ll scare her off by taking her there, that place is _way_ too romantic. You should take her to The Market, it’s great for lunch.” Vivian argued.

 

     “Can you two go get the fish from the freezer? I’d like to get a start on dinner.” Barry interrupted.

 

     Vivian and Lowery huffed before walking out of the kitchen together, bickering on their way out to the freezer downstairs.

 

     “What about you? Do you know anywhere good for lunch?” Owen asked with a smirk.

 

     Barry stopped his chopping for a moment, took some time to think, and then his face lit up for just a moment. “The Chateau.” He replied. “It’s a nice and quiet little French place, ten minutes away at the most. A friend of mine works there in the kitchen, he’ll take good care of you two.”

 

     “Thanks, Barry.” Owen smiled.

 

     “No problem, just don’t make a fool of yourself in front of her. She was a nice person, nice to your grandfather, nice to all of us; I think you two will get along just fine. At least I hope you do.” Barry said


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So this is probably crap. I've been in one of those moods today where I feel like everything I've written down is horrible, hopefully it actually isn't.

     The week seemed to drag on until Thursday had finally arrived. Owen didn’t realize just how much he was looking forward to his lunch date with Claire until he woke up this morning and realized the day had finally come. He spent the whole morning unusually happy, trying to sort through some of his grandfather’s old things – mostly fossils and books on fossils. Even everyone working in the kitchen looked at him as if he was sick when he made his way downstairs for breakfast.

 

     “Are you feeling alright?” Lowery asked curiously, paying more attention to Owen’s odd behavior than the eggs he was cooking.

 

     “Fine, why?” Owen was watching them all quickly turn their attention to the food they were cooking instead of staring at him like a zoo exhibit. “What’s up with you guys?”

 

     “We could be asking you the same thing.” Lowery pointed out.

 

     “It’s Thursday.” Barry blurted out but keeping his attention on the food.

 

     Suddenly, it seemed to dawn on Lowery and Vivian what Barry had meant, today was _the_ day.

 

     “Did you decide where you’re going to take Claire for lunch?” Vivian asked curiously.

 

   “Yeah, I think I’m going with Barry’s suggestion, I’m going to take her to The Chateau.” Owen said.

 

     “Oh man, the food there is great.” Lowery sighed.

 

     “That’s what I’m hoping for.” Owen smirked.

 

     “You two will have a good time, I can just sense it.” Vivian smiled.

 

     “Can you sense your bacon burning too?” Barry asked with an amused grin on his face as Vivian frantically hurried over to her bacon.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

     Claire was more nervous than she cared to admit. She barely got any sleep last night, not out of excitement, though while she was scrambling to get out the front door she did feel some excitement finally set in, but out of stress. One of her bosses – Vic Hoskins – had decided to be particularly terrible lately, and while Claire was searching for a new job to take any way out and away from him, it was still weighing on her. Not to mention her family, her sister reminding her that she hadn’t seen her own nephews in years, and just telling her about her impeding divorce from her husband. Claire let herself have a bit of a breakdown last night over a couple glasses of wine to calm her nerves, and after a distracting phone call from Zara to keep her mind on other things, Claire didn’t get to sleep until two in the morning, and didn’t wake up until ten.

 

     Claire had to practically sprint into the shower and try to find something suitable to wear out to lunch. She didn’t want to go out in her office attire, especially on her day off, and she certainly didn’t want to go out in anything that made her seem desperate. Though Claire couldn’t exactly remember the last time she had been out on a date of any kind, lunch or otherwise, she didn’t want to give Owen any wrong impressions. Claire worked hard to get to where she was at with her job, and she didn’t want Owen to think this date was any kind of attempt to get to him or his grandfathers estate, Claire could have cared less about all of that, though other people might think otherwise.

 

     Without thinking twice, Claire threw on a sundress to help her deal with the warm summer heat outside along with a pair of heels before rushing out the door and catching a cab over to Owen’s house. By the time she showed up outside, her nerves had fully set in and she was shaking like a leaf, debating weather or not to run back home and forget this ridiculous idea of dating some one who was technically still a client of hers, though not an active one at the moment. Before Claire could change her mind, Owen opened up the front door, though he didn’t seem like he was expecting company from the pajama pants still on and a cup of coffee in his hand.

 

     “Claire?” He asked confused. “What are you doing here? It’s eleven o’clock, at least I think it is…crap, am I late?”

 

     “What?” Claire rummaged through her purse and pulled out her cell phone, sure enough, she had rushed herself out the door an hour early; she knew at this point that her cheeks were flaming red with embarrassment. “God, I’m sorry, I’m so early, I’ll just…come back la-“

 

     “No, no it’s alright. You want to come in? I can have someone make you a coffee while I’m getting ready if you want, we’ll go out to brunch or something.” He smiled.

 

     “Thanks.” Claire smiled. “I feel like I could use another cup of coffee.”

 

     Owen ushered Claire into the house, leading her right to the kitchen before walking off to go get ready. A few moments later, Barry set a warm cup of coffee down in front of her.

 

     “No need to be nervous Ms. Claire.” Barry smiled. “All Owen’s been talking about for the past week is going out to lunch with you, he doesn’t get out much.”

 

     “Thanks Barry.” Claire nodded; Claire had always liked Barry, in Sheldon Grady’s final months when she was at this house practically everyday helping him sort out his estate, she had spent many meals here with him, enough to come to know all the kitchen staff that Sheldon loved.

 

     The silence that fell after Barry left her to her coffee was comforting for a few moments, enough time to calm her nerves only for everything to be wound up as soon as she let her mind wander. Hoskins was a creep, and getting worse by the day, all Wu cared about was making money and not what his employee’s were enduring, her sister needed her help now more than ever, and she was sure her nephews hated her.

 

     “Calm down, Claire.” She whispered to herself. “Don’t think about it, don’t think about it, don’t think about it.”

 

     “Don’t think about what?” Owen asked, walking into the room unannounced causing Claire to be a bit startled. “Sorry.” He mused once he noticed how jumpy she was. “Are you alright? You seem jumpy.”

 

     “I’m fine, just stress.” Claire replied quickly, not wanting to dwell on things any longer. It was her day off, and she was going out on a date for the first time in…well, she couldn’t even remember how long it had been. “Ready to go?”

 

     “Yeah, let’s go enjoy the day.” Owen smiled; though Claire could tell from the way his eyes followed her than he wasn’t buying her routine of everything being alright.

 

 

* * *

 

 

     Owen had taken Claire to lunch where Barry had suggested, and immediately he was relieved to see Claire unwind just a bit. He joked around with her and got her to laugh at even some of his worst jokes, and with each cheesy joke she seemed to unwind just a little bit more. He got her to open up a bit, she talked about her sister and her nephews that she barely got to see, though she was thinking of brining them out to the city soon while her sister sorted through her divorce. In return, Owen told her a bit about his life before suddenly inheriting all that he had; his father dying at an early age, his mother struggling along to raise a younger and more rowdy Owen, along some stories from his time spent in the Navy.

 

     “So, you worked with dolphins for a while, do you like working with animals?” Claire asked curiously.

 

     “They’re easier than working with people honestly.” Owen smirked. “I’m, uh, not much of a people person.”

 

     “Maybe you just haven’t met the right people yet.” Claire suggested with a small smile.

 

     “Yeah, maybe. Hopefully I’m working on that though, I like hanging out with you.” Owen smiled.

 

     Claire began to blush a bit, it wasn’t the first time he had gotten her to blush on their lunch date, but every time that he did, he couldn’t help but feel a bit hopeful over whatever relationship was blossoming between him and Claire. They had decided to go for a walk through Central Park after lunch, Claire had been through the park more times than she could count anymore, but for Owen he felt like a little kid, taking everything in for the first time, especially how beautiful Claire looked; her eyes sparkling with joy and her bright red hair shinning in the sunlight.

 

     “What about you then? What led to Claire Dearing becoming a lawyer in the big city?” Owen asked curiously.

 

     “Honestly, I just wanted to get out of Wisconsin. I didn’t want to get trapped in a small town like my mother and my sister, I wanted to get out and see the world. I got out of the small town and got trapped in the big city instead.” Claire sighed.

 

     “Do you even like your job?” Owen asked.

 

     “What do you mean?” Claire asked quizzically.

 

     “The way you’ve been talking about it today…it seems like you used to love it but now it sounds like all you want to do is run away from it.” Owen suggested. “Do you still like your job?”

 

     Claire hesitated for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip and stopping in place before Owen stopped beside her.

 

     “I used to love my job, I couldn’t wait to get up in the morning and run off to work, even if I was just a paper pusher back then.” Claire stated. “Now, I don’t even want to get out of bed in the morning, I want to just roll over and go back to sleep.”

 

     “Why don’t you get a different job then?” Owen asked.

 

     “Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a job in the city? Much less a good one with good benefits.” Claire remarked.

 

     “I could give you a job.” Owen offered.

 

     Claire glared at him and shook her head, starting to resume their walk again while Owen jogged to catch up to her.

 

     “What?” Owen asked.

 

     “A job as what? It doesn’t even matter, it’d only be for a year either way.” Claire shrugged.

 

     “Unless I marry someone, that was the deal in the will, right? So I’ll just marry someone.” Owen stated as if it was the easiest solution in the entire world. “Then I could hire you as my personal lawyer, and I’d probably be a lot easier to deal with than all those stiffs in suits.” Owen grinned.

 

     “You wouldn’t need a personal lawyer year round Owen.” Claire grumbled.

 

     “Look up my record sometime, I probably need all the legal help I can get.” Owen laughed.

 

     “Just who exactly do you plan on marrying then? From what I’ve heard, you’ve barely left the house since you got here.” Claire pointed out.

 

   “I told you, I don’t like people and this city is full of them.” Owen remarked. “I don’t know, I’ll find someone, I’ve got a year.”

 

     “That’s...that’s nice of you to offer Owen, but I’ll find something. I’ve already started looking for another job, I’ll get something, at least I hope so.” Claire explained.

 

     “Someone would have to be a complete idiot not to hire you.” Owen replied.

 

 

* * *

 

 

     They ended up spending the entire day together, the entire day was more than Claire could even dream up, and though it should have made her ecstatic, once she was standing on Owen’s doorstep, she was terrified.

 

     “You want to come inside for some coffee or something?” Owen offered as he unlocked the front door, reaching in and turning on the lights.

 

   “Maybe some other time.” Claire offered. “I really should get home, early day tomorrow and all of that.”

 

     “Let me at least call a cab for you so you don’t have to wait around. Come one, you can wait inside.” Owen said.

 

     Claire relented and went inside with Owen, making herself at home on the sofa while Owen called a cab. He sat down beside her and kept telling more of his Navy stories, mostly the embarrassing ones, and kept her laughing until the cab was outside.

 

     “Thank you for getting me out of the house today.” Claire told Owen on the front steps. “I really needed it.”

 

     “I should be saying that to you.” Owen smirked. “You think we can go out again sometime?”

 

     “I’d like that.” Claire smiled up at him. “How about this time we go out to dinner, Friday night?”

 

     “Sounds good to me, do you have a place in mind?” Owen asked.

 

     “Surprise me.” Claire answered. “You seem to have pretty good taste.”

 

     “Alright, it’s a date.” Owen said. “See you Friday.”

 

     Claire lingered on the step a moment, though she heard the cab running in the background. In a quick second of bravery she got on her tip-toes and gave Owen a kiss on the cheek before turning around and making her way to the cab. When she glanced at Owen over her shoulder, she saw him standing there, staring at her in awe with a big grin on his face. Maybe Owen Grady wasn’t so bad after all, her certainly wasn’t like the rest of them.


	4. Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm thinking this might be a few more chapters? Still not exactly sure how long it will be, but I don't think it will go on much longer.

     Claire had been on four dates with Owen since their very first date, and she had loved every single moment she got to spend with him. They were opposites in a lot of ways; Claire liked everything perfectly organized while Owen seemed to scatter things about the house until Barry or Vivian yelled at him for his mess stretching out to the kitchen, Claire lived by a schedule while Owen seemed to take his time with everything. By all means they shouldn’t have gotten along as well as they had, but Claire liked Owen’s relaxing nature, it made her feel calm in the middle of a chaotic week; while Claire ensured that Owen became a bit neater and kept his mess contained to his room for now – though she’d eventually get him to clean that as well. Owen had created a habit that Claire looked forward to every day; he’d call her towards the end of work and let her vent out her day. Despite Claire slowly convincing him to go out a little more often since the city wasn’t horrible, the furthest he ever went was to the zoo where he spent a majority of his time by the lions – just as his grandfather had.

 

     “So, what are you wearing?” Claire could hear the mischief in his voice as clear as day.

 

     “Owen, I’m still at the office, we are _not_ doing this now.” Claire laughed in return though she could feel her cheeks starting to turn a bright red.

 

     “Oh, come on, is anyone around?” Owen asked.

 

     “Yes, Zara is still outside and the office is still full of people, everyone’s working overtime with this new case that’s going around.” Claire said, it was a partial lie, they did have a new case but most everyone had gone home – except for Claire of course and a few of the big bosses.

 

     “Fine.” Owen grumbled, a bit deflated.

 

     Claire found herself flattered that Owen was so attracted to her, they hadn’t actually had sex yet, but if Claire was being perfectly honest with herself, she was looking forward to that day when it came.

 

     “I’ll see what you’re wearing in a few minutes anyway, I’m downstairs.” Owen said.

 

     “What?” Claire asked, a bit surprised but in the best possible way.

 

     “I figured I’d surprise you and take you out to dinner, wherever you want to go.” Owen said.

 

     “Can I get changed before we go? I’d rather not go out in the clothes I’ve been stuck in all day.” Claire sighed.

 

     “Whatever you want to do. Worse comes to worse if you take four hours, we can always eat at my house.” Owen laughed.

 

     “I do not take four hours to get ready.” Claire protested as she heard a knock on the door and looked up to see the smug face of one of her bosses – Vic Hoskins. “I’ve got to go, I’ll see you up here in a few minutes.” Claire sighed and hung up the phone.

 

     “You’ve been getting awfully cozy with Mr. Grady there, I have to say Claire I didn’t see you as one of the gold digging types.” Vic smirked.

 

     “My relationship with Mr. Grady is none of your business.” Claire snapped, Vic had been more of a jerk than usual today; he was testing Claire’s patience.

 

     “Well, technically it is. Mr. Grady is a client of this law firm and if one of my lawyers is taking him for all he’s got, that’s something I’d like to be in one.” Vic winked and it made Claire’s skin crawl.

 

     Claire had it, she didn’t want to have to deal with Vic or his disgusting manners for another second. “You’re repulsive.” Claire grumbled as she grabbed her bag and tried to storm past Vic to wait for Owen by the elevator.

 

     Vic grabbed her by the wrist and held her there, Claire tried to pry her wrist out of his grasp but it was firm.

 

     “Now Claire is that really how you should talk to your boss?” Vic asked.

 

     Before Claire could answer, a fist came out of nowhere from beside her and hit Vic right in the face, him letting go of her wrist immediately. Claire turned to see a more than infuriated Owen standing behind her, his fists clenched and ready to strike at Vic again if he needed to.

 

     “Owen, it’s alright, calm down.” Claire said in a hushed tone, reaching out to gently touch his arm.

 

     He glared down at her and for a split second; Claire was terrified of the anger she saw in his eyes.

 

     “Owen, I’m okay.” Claire tried to reassure him.

 

     Owen seemed to understand her that time as his fists slowly unclenched. Vic was cowering in the corner trying to stop his nose from bleeding.

 

     “Come on Claire, let’s go.” Owen grumbled and wrapped his arm around her waist.

 

     “One second.” Claire sighed and pulled away to go face Vic. “I quit.” She stated, and for a moment she had never felt more certain in her entire life.

 

     It wasn’t until she made it to the elevator with Owen’s arms wrapped around her that she realized she had just quit her job, without hearing back from any other law firms, and she had no idea what she was going to do now.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

     Owen had tried everything he could to keep Claire’s mind off of things since the night she quit her job. He knew she had every right to quit, especially with such a creep for a boss, but he could also tell that part of her wished she’d never quit. She had been part of that law firm for seven years and worked her way to where she had been, suddenly she was back to where she was seven years ago and Owen didn’t know how to fix it. It had been three weeks, and no matter what Owen tried to make Claire cheer up, she remained a constant ball of stress that was more prone to pushing him away than spending time with him anymore. Today was a rare day though; he’d managed to pull Claire out of her apartment for once and took her to the most relaxing spot he’d found in his few months in the city – the zoo – particularly by the lions.

 

     He’d gotten her to laugh a couple of times at some of his jokes like she used to all the time, but whenever she’d check her phone she’d revert back to the same closed off version of herself she had been.

 

     “Do you think you can take me home now Owen? I’ve got some more applications to finish.” Claire sighed, she had made sure to keep enough distance between them to keep from Owen pulling her closer in an attempt to calm her down.

 

     “Yeah, sure.” Owen nodded and got off the bench, casting a quick glance over at the lions before following Claire out.

 

     They had been so close and it was almost as if now this giant glacier had moved between them. He knew Claire was at a loss, she didn’t know what to do from now on though she seemed to realize that leaving her old job was for the better. Owen had offered for her to move in with him so she at least didn’t have to worry about her apartment anymore despite the money she saved up, but Claire was not only stubborn, but also determined to find another job. She couldn’t stand to be still, that much Owen had learned about her in the past few weeks.

 

     “See you at the gala next weekend, Owen!” One of the zoo workers called out to him as they walked by. Owen had almost all but forgotten about the damn thing with all the worrying over Claire he’d been doing.

 

     “You’re going to a gala?” Claire asked curiously. “That seems…not like you.”

 

     “It’s for the animals, a fund raising thing, you know? All sorts of people go to it, I wasn’t going to but it turns out Sheldon was involved with this place too, went every chance he could.” Owen shrugged. “I don’t know if I’ll go.”

 

     “Why not? You love this place.” Claire stated.

 

    “If I was going to go, it’d only be with you. I didn’t know if you’d be up to going or not with…you know, everything that’s been going on.” Owen tried to tip toe around saying ‘ _with the depression you’ve been set in lately_ ’ but he was sure Claire had caught onto that with the way she quickly turned away from him.

 

     “I’ll go.” Claire answered so quietly it was barely considered a whisper, but it was something in Owen’s eyes.

 

     “Really?” Owen asked hopefully as he watched Claire nod. “It’ll be fun, I promise. I think we could use some fun, right?”

 

     “Yeah, fun would be good.” Claire gave a weak smile, Owen could tell that Claire was desperately trying to be positive again, back to who she was, and he was glad that she was at least even trying.


	5. Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I…I don’t like this chapter. It’s probably terrible, I just wanted to get this chapter done finally, it’s been haunting me. Oh well, either way the next chapter is the last one.

     Claire had never really been one for overly extravagant parties, and in her years of living in the city, she knew the gala that was held for fundraising for anything to do with Central Park was usually extravagant. Now with everything else that was on her mind, the last thing she wanted to do was get all dressed up and waste time at a party. But this was for Owen more than anything, she knew just how distant she had been, it wasn’t his fault she chose to quit, and Vic Hoskins certainly deserved more than a punch in the face after all the stories she heard in her time working there. Maybe a night out filled with such extreme distractions as an over the top gala would actually let her have fun again, let her be herself around Owen again.

 

     Owen wanted to get her a dress in the worst way possible, he’d taken her out to go look at dresses and it took him half the day to convince her to let him get this one thing for her. Claire had always been self-sustaining and proud of it, sometimes too proud for her own good she had to admit. After going from store to store, Claire had fallen in love with yellow ball gown, which had been the strangest thing since she wasn’t always drawn to yellow, but it was the most beautiful dress she had tried on the entire day. Owen got it for her without question or hesitation, and while Claire wanted to argue that she’d pay him back, for the first time that day Claire felt a bit like her old self again.

 

     Tonight was the night of the gala, and Claire hadn’t felt herself get this nervous over something since before her first job interview. She had spent the night at Owen’s, something else she hadn’t done in quite a while, and she had to admit it lifted her spirits. Ever since she had started shutting Owen out, he’d gotten a bit grumpy – for a good reason she figured – but this morning he was singing in the shower and humming as he made his way downstairs to the kitchen. He’d given Barry, Lowery, and Vivian the day off, claiming he wanted to prove to Claire that he could in fact cook through she teased him the night before saying he’d probably starve to death without those three around. Claire made her way downstairs, a smile on her face for the first time in a while, and wearing one of Owen’s shirts out of habit after spending the night. He was still humming away and singing to himself, something she could hear from upstairs, and Claire couldn’t help but laugh as she watched him.

 

     “Enjoying the show?” Owen asked with a smirk.

 

     “More than you know.” Claire laughed. “How’s breakfast coming?”

 

     “Patience, good things come to those who wait.” Owen assured her, though Claire was pretty sure she smelled burning bacon somewhere.

 

     “Alright, I’ll wait.” Claire said as she made her way to go grab a cup of coffee.

 

* * *

 

     Claire had to admit that Owen’s cooking wasn’t bad, it wasn’t nearly as good as something Barry, Lowery, or Vivian had made, but she had to admit that at least it was edible which was already leagues better than something she could ever make.

 

     “You seriously don’t know how to cook?” Owen asked with an amused grin.

 

     “All the times I’ve tried it’s usually resulted in almost calling the fire department…or poison control.” Claire grumbled.

 

     “I could teach you.” Owen offered.

 

     “It’d probably be best if we had one of the professional chefs that work in this kitchen to teach us instead, and safer more than likely.” Claire laughed. “Trust me, I don’t want to hurt you with my awful cooking skills.”

 

     “I’m sure it’s not that bad.” Owen countered.

 

     “I burned pasta the last time I tried to cook, _pasta_ , in boiling water and somehow all the water kind of evaporated.” Claire sighed.

 

     “Sounds like you weren’t watching the pasta.” Owen said.

 

     “I’m a busy person, I wasn’t exactly paying attention.” Claire shrugged.

 

     Owen couldn’t help but chuckle, and Claire blushed a bit, he always had a habit of making her do that even if it was unintentional. “So, are you excited for tonight?”

 

   “It should be fun.” Claire nodded, a smile still on her face. “Thank you.”

 

     “For what?” Owen asked, a bit confused.

 

     “For getting me out of the house.” Claire mused.

 

     Owen just smiled and nodded, grabbing another piece of his slightly overcooked bacon off the plate in front of him.

 

* * *

 

     Owen hated going out anywhere still to this day, especially if it was to go somewhere where he had to get dressed up. Claire, however, loved going out, or at least she used to before she quit her job. Owen hadn’t anticipated going to the gala for the zoo, though he had come to learn it was something his grandfather did until he got sick. Once Claire started falling into some sort of depression, Owen hoped that the gala would be something that would cheer her up – and for the most part it was working. He missed having Claire come over and just lie in bed next to him, not exactly the sex, though that was amazing, but just having her there by his side meant more to him than anything else in the world. He missed her smiling, her laugh, he missed a lot of things about Claire and slowly but surely, she was coming back to him.

 

     He had to admit though that he felt more than a little out of place dressed up in his suit. He never owned a suit, except for his formal Navy uniform which rarely got worn, but the suit was different – he felt like a monkey stuffed into one of these ridicules things. But the minute Owen saw Claire step into the room wearing that beautiful dress of hers, it made wearing the suit more than worth it just to see her glowing like that.

 

     “Wow…Claire, you look beautiful.” Owen grinned, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her in that moment.

 

     “Thanks.” Claire smiled a bit bashfully in return and started trying to adjust her dress out of nervousness. “I just need some help with the back.”

 

     “Sure.” Owen answered quickly.

 

     When Claire turned around he zipped up the back and let his hands linger a little longer than he should have. Once he was able to tear himself away, Claire slowly turned around again, a smile still on her face, it was the first time he’d seen her smile this long in a while.

 

     “You ready to go?” Owen asked, clearing his throat a bit and trying to pull himself together.

 

     “Yeah, let’s go before we’re late.” Claire said, grabbing Owen’s hand with a smile still on her face as she started leading him out of the room. “I think tonight is going to be fun.”


End file.
